Escalation
by dashh
Summary: It seems Cori's shady past has finally caught up to her. However, being a fugitive with both cops and criminals wanting her head is only the beginning; she's in for the fight of her life.


**Author's Note:**

Okay guys, this here is my Pokefic, Escalation. My writing is a bit rusty, I apologize for any grammatical errors, which are bound to happen as I'm blind when it comes to proof-reading.

**Disclaimer:**

This is just a fanfic. All rights to Pokemon belong to Nintendo, Game Freak, Etc. If I had created Pokemon myself, I'd be a lot richer.

**Rating:**

Pg-14, due to this story involving bloodshed, Human violence, Pokeviolence, death, and language.

And so I present to you... Chapter One, and what is probably an annoyingly vague idea of what's going on.

**Escalation: Chapter One  
>Preparing for Trouble<strong>

"_Mr. Slade has a message for you. Boardwalk Bar at midnight. Do not ignore. Urgent._"

Less than two hours after the note was discovered, having been slipped underneath the door crack of the recipient's home, it was already crumbled, torn, and frail. And for the hundredth time since receiving the note, a small framed and chestnut-haired girl by the name of Cori once again clenched her fist around the little piece of paper, tearing a hole right through the middle. Her grip tightened to an unnecessary level as a pair of emerald green eyes set in a round, youthful face swept around the bar. She was trying to counteract the painful knots her stomach was forming, and search for whomever she was supposed to be meeting.

What do you do, what are you supposed to think in a situation like this? It's not a comfortable idea at all…being contacted after so long by someone you had stabbed in the back and threw under the bus. Someone whose trust you abused.

And yet, Cori couldn't ignore the note. This wasn't only because the paper had blatantly ordered her not to, but mainly because she knew "Mr. Slade" would have to have a damn good reason to be hunting her down like that. So Cori knew, as the paper claimed, it had to be urgent… and more likely than not, it wasn't good at all.

So here she was, waiting.

Boardwalk Bar was an interesting place, and personally one of Cori's favorite hangouts. It was an outdoor area of drinking and merriment set up at the very end of the Slateport Beach boardwalk. There was a mechanical retractable roof for times of rain, although at the moment it was folded up against the wall of the adjacent restaurant, giving way to the starry sky overhead.

Around her, the occupants were shouting, pounding fists, and laughing. Cori ignored them. She raised her hand slightly, catching the attention of the girl behind the bar. Less than a minute later her fifth shot of rum was in front of her. Cori downed it with no hesitation, only just barely showing disgust at the strong taste. She hadn't noticed the man beside her until he spoke.

"I find it rather amusing that you took that message to meet at a bar, despite how important and urgent it obviously was, as an invitation to get yourself drunk".

Cori felt her stomach drop just a little. She was beginning to hope nobody would meet her after all. As an act of defiance she raised her hand again at the bartender, casting a sideways glance at the speaker as she did so. She didn't recognize him. Thank God.

"Do you even know the whole situation here?" Cori emptied the shot glass for a sixth time. Knowing her old friend, the majority of the information was kept a secret. This man was simply to deliver the note and a measly little message that wouldn't even make sense to him. She wouldn't like what she was going to hear either. Cori reflected over every single possibility for two hours after finding that note. This was why she was drinking.

The man chuckled. Cori turned to get a second look at him, noting three prominent characteristics: he was aging, his head was balding, and his mustache was thick.

"No," he said finally, and Cori nodded, edging the man to continue.

"What is it then?"

He sighed, glanced around, almost as if to make sure nobody was eavesdropping, and leaned in a little closer.

"This is honesty all that I know and was told. But first, are you aware of the situation of Kanto and Johto?" Cori nodded, the man continued, "Good. Besides that, I was told to tell you this: you've been tracked down."

Cori had no idea how successful her efforts to hide her expression were.

"Do you know what that means?" the man said apprehensively. Cori turned back toward the bar, raising her hand more urgently this time.

"Do you?" she answered back. From the corner of her eye, Cori noticed the man shake his head. She let out a smirk in spite of herself, noting she had been right and her old friend certainly had not changed over the past two years. "Of course, it's not your business after all". She turned back to the messenger with a new shot of rum in hand. She was shaking a little, despite her calm demeanor. "Is that all then?" she asked. Her voice was also shaky.

"Mostly. All that I have is that your enemies know where you are…you and Faye."

The shot glass slipped from Cori's grasp. Her fingers found a new hold around the collar of the man's shirt as she jerked him forward. "They found my sister?"

He coughed, grabbing Cori's wrist and attempted to pry it from his front. The girl held fast.

"Yes," he said after a few seconds.

"Then where is she? Are you going to warn her too?"

He stopped his struggling, taken by surprise. "How would I know? The idea was that you would warn her."

Cori let go, fuming. Her stomach, which had felt like it was tying itself into tight twisting knots not even ten minutes ago, had now begun to feel empty. Sickeningly empty; nauseatingly so.

"No. Faye wants nothing to do with me; I don't even know where she is."

With that she left, her head spinning and mind racing. She needed to leave the city. She needed fresh air. She needed another drink. She needed to find her sister. She needed to strangle this old man who had brought such terrible news. She's going to be hunted. She's probably got a hefty bounty on her head. She didn't even pay the bar tab.

Cori strode down the boardwalk as swiftly as she dared, noting that the noise of the ocean crashing became more noticeable as she distanced herself from the noisy bar. Her arms tightened around her front. She was planning.

_Go home, grab stuff, leave._ She swore aloud, ignoring the stares it earned her. She needs to- How? How can she track Faye down?

Her mind raced even faster as she traversed the streets and side-streets of downtown Slateport. She spoke to nobody, watched the ground, and moved like a robot. It wasn't until she had entered an abandoned alley, a quick albeit sketchy shortcut to her apartment, that she took her eyes off of her feet. Cori instantly noticed two uniformed figures ahead of her. It was then that she realized she'd been stumbling.

"Evening," Cori said quietly. The two policemen eyed her suspiciously. One stepped forward.

"It's late ma'am," he stated. Cori rolled her eyes. The blatant sign of disrespect visibly annoyed the two policemen. Yet she didn't care, she had too much on her mind to be courteous right now.

"How old are you miss?" the other one asked. Cori snorted.

"Twenty-one".

The other cop furrowed his brows, shaking his head. "I doubt that, you don't look it."

"I know".

"Have you been drinking tonight?" Cori was silent, glaring. She had enough on her plate at the moment; she didn't want to be dealing with pesky police.

"Why," she finally said.

The man cleared his throat, "You weren't walking very straight. You're slurring your speech a litt-"

"Why should it matter?" Cori cut the cop off, causing him to shoot her an annoyed glower. "I'm of age. I'm not driving. Lay the fuck off. Can I go home now?"

"Ma'am," Cori's patience was wearing even thinner, "Please be compliant. This will go more smoothly if-"

The girl let another vulgar swear. She couldn't help herself. Rum brought up her temper, so did stress and bad news, and also so did cops who enjoyed getting on people's cases. She dug through her bag, found her wallet, withdrew her ID, and flung it at the two policemen. One stooped to pick it up from the ground. "There," she huffed, "Like I said, I'm not as young as I look. Do you feel like letting me off now?"

They stared at the card for a bit longer than she found comfortable. One then smirked, his right hand withdrawing an all too familiar red and white sphere from a pocket.

"Cori Addison," he began. The girl stiffened, narrowing her eyes. She could tell instantly that something wasn't quite right. The Poke Ball in the cop's hands cracked open, the escaping beam of light shaping itself into a Noctowl. "There is a warrant out for your arrest."

"No there isn't," she answered without thinking. Just more bad news to pile on her tonight. What could she have possibly done? Cori backed up as quickly as she could, opting to run. The Noctowl's eyes glowed, and she felt herself being lifted from the ground as the owl exerted its Psychic attack on her. Floating in the air, she was left helpless to escape on her own. "What am I wanted for? Put me down!" she ordered. The second policeman stepped forward; Cori swore and kicked forward as a hand reached for the hem of her shirt.

Even as the man stumbled back, grunting in man, Cori knew it was too late. He had lifted her top just enough to reveal the small and simple yet easily recognizable tattoo on her right hip: a bold red R outlined in black. Swearing and kicking her feet at the cop again; Cori plunged her hand into her bag for a second time.

"You are under arrest for having associations with Team Rocket," the owner of the Noctowl stated. Cori continued digging viciously through her bag. "We are cracking down more than ever on their attempts to set up in Hoenn. As you should know, they have managed to take control of both Kanto and Johto. You will be taken to the station and questioned for information on their plans here."

"I left Team Rocket. I can't tell you anything". Cori found them then: two small ping-pong sized balls. One felt completely smooth, and Cori smirked as she gripped it. They'll get a kick out of this.

"That's an unlikely story, especially with that mark. We know enough about the organization to conclude that they only gave those to the most trusted of their members…" he paused to clear his throat, "Noctowl-" the cop began to address his Pokemon. Cori let go of her first choice and opted for the second small sphere, on which she could feel two raised ridges. Saller would be much too recognizable. Cori knew at this point, no matter how much she didn't like it, that she was on the doorstep of being on the run from the law. She swiftly withdrew the Great Ball and enlarged it as the policeman finished his order; "Use Hypnosis, now."

"Detect! Slash that damn owl!" Cori ordered as she slammed her Great Ball into the ground at her floating feet. The familiar form of her Absol Cala emerged, countering the Hypnosis aimed at her trainer. The owl cried indignantly, spreading its wings. It got nowhere before its opponent swiped the hooked horn upon her head across its chest, breaking the psychic hold it held on Cori. The girl fell to the ground, crumbling on impact. "Crunch," she addressed her Pokemon again prior to rolling out of the way of another Hypnosis attack.

The second cop sent out a Growlithe, who sank its teeth into Cala. The Absol snarled, shaking the dog off violently and sending it flying into a nearby wall. The Noctowl circled around overhead before dive-bombing Cori's Pokemon. Cala leapt up, sinking her teeth into a wing, and flung the owl into the same wall the Growlithe had hit. The little fire hound stood and charged as the owl fell to the ground unconscious.

Cori's Absol easily countered the Take Down attack with one of her own, knocking the Growlithe backwards again. This time, the dog failed to get up. The battle was over as suddenly as it had begun.

The trainer leapt to her feet immediately, eyeing the two policemen, who were scowling. She gave Cala one last order as she shielded her eyes. Even through her eyelids and both of her hands, she watched the world flash brilliantly for just a second. She heard the two men cry out as they were completely blinded, then opened her own eyes and blinked through the spots in her vision. She recalled Cala and sprinted down the alleyway.

_Go home, grab stuff, leave_. She repeated her thoughts from earlier, only much more hastily this time. Somehow, even though it hadn't felt possible earlier, it was much more imperative that she get out of the city and find Faye and as soon as possible.

That was her first priority…among others.


End file.
